Wave-motor.



i. MAYOUNO. WAVE MOTOR. APPLICATION a0 ROV. :3. 19:3.

Pateirted May 25, 1 915.

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' INVENTOR ATTORNEY I L. MAYOUNO.

WAVE MOTOR. APPLICATION FILED NOV: 13. 1913.

Patented May 25, 1915.

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WITN E5555 INVENTOR ATTORNEY APPLICATION FILE!) 5 1 13. 1913- aSHEETS-W25? 3.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY h ilfii aei a LUIS MAYOLINO, OF HABANA, CUBA.

WAVE-MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patgnted B131? 25, 1915,

Application filed November 13, 1913. Serial No. 800,785.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Luis MAYomNo, a citizen of the Republic of Cuba,residing at Habana, Cuba, have invented new and useful Improvements in\Vave-Motors, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to a wave motor.

An object of the invention is to provide a device wherein a piston isreciprocated by the waves of a body of water and wherein the movement ofthe piston is transmitted to a pump or to another machine for utilizingthe energy of the waves.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a device of this kind apiston with means for maintaining the same constantly in contact with orpartly immersed in'a body of water even if the level of said body issubjected to fluctuations within wide limits.

Another object of the invention is to provide adevice of this kind withmeans for antomatically regulating the movement of the piston inaccordance with the force of the waves or in accordance with the tidalfluctuations.

, With these and other objects in view I have illustrated anembodimentof the invention in the accompanying drawing and referencewill be made to this drawing in the following specification, the novelfeatures being more clearly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a vertical section through an installationof this kind, the

machine to be driven by the force of the waves being not shown in thisfigure. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the tunnel connecting awell, in which a piston operates, with a body of water, the sectionbeing taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectionthrough the well. in which the piston operates shown in connection witha pump driven by said piston, various parts in this figure being shownin elevation.

A well excavated from the soil near a body of water is indicated at 1,and the rigidity of the wallsof this vertical well is en hanced by thelining 3 of concrete or similar suitable material applied to the wallsof the well. The interior of this well is in communication with the'bodyof'water 2 by means of a tunnel 4;, thebottom of which is somewhatinclined to facilitate the inflow of the water toward the foot of thewell. The tun nel preferably has elliptic cross-section and transmittedchamber may be placed in communication tapers from the inlet toward thewell as may be seen from Fig. 2, the two axes of the ellipse at the endof the tunn'l near the well being preferably equal to the diameter -ofthe well so that the cross-section gradually assumes acircular shape. Itis advisable to apply a coating or lining of concrete to this tunnel todecrease the friction of the water on the walls thereof. At the inletend of the tunnel the longest axis of the ellipse is about twice thediameter of the well, while the shorter or vertical axis isapproximately equal to the diameter of the well. The slope of the bottomof the tunnel toward the well prevents the tunnels being completelyemptied when the tide ebbs.

The depth of the well 1 may vary. This dimension probably will dependupon the geological conditions of the shore and also upon the power orenergy that is to be trans mitted from the waves.

A piston 5 is slidably disposed within thfi well 1 conforming in itsoutline to the configuration of the wall of the welll, so as to bemovable therein. In order to improve the guiding of the reciprocatingpiston a'plurality of guiding elements 10 may be located within the welland these elements must be long enough to have ,a' guiding effect uponthe piston even if the same reaches its uppermost or lowermost position.

The piston comprises two chambers which are separated from each other bymeans of a partition wall A. The lower chamber 7 will be designated inthe following as a water 'chamber, while the upper chamber 6 serves asan air chamber, this air chamber being closed on top and the waterchamber being open at the bottom. The location of the partition wall Abetween the two chambers may vary in accordance with the weight of thepiston and in accordance with the power which is to be therethrough. Thewater with the atmosphere by means of the pipe 8 which extends from thechamber .7 through the air chamber 6, the lower end of this pipe beingopen and the upper one being closable by means of a valve The airchamber 6 which is closed at the bottom and at the top may also bebrought into communication with the atmosphere by means of thepipe 9which extends from near the bottom 'of the chamber 6 through the top ofthe same and which also may be" closed at the outstanding end by meansofa --valve 36. y

-When water enters into the lower cham- 5"ber;' atmospheric connectionthrough pipe 8 is estiiblishedso that all the air contained in the lowerchamber is forced out by the incoming waterfand a complete filling ofthe water chamber takes place. Thereupon 10 the atmospheric connectionis ,cut off by closing the valve 35 and the lower chamber is permanentlyfilled with water. Due to this fact the pistonis adapted tosimultaneously follow any movement of the Water whereby a high degree ofefiieiency of the device is effected. The upper chamber 9 is provided toobtain a high degree of buoyancy for the piston. The pipe 9 whichconnects the upper chamber with the at- '20 mosphere is not an essentialfeature of the device and may be dispensed with. It merely permits theremoval of the air from the upper chamber by :mechanical 'means shouldthis be deemed necessary. Any suitable machine may be driven by thewaves in coaction with the piston. In the embodiment illustrated adouble acting pump is shown secured to the frame l1 which is supportedon beams 11 bridging till the mouth of the well. The cylinder 12 of thispump is relatively long and the piston rod in said cylinder is connectedwith the rod of the piston 5 in the well so that the pump piston has astroke of exactly the 3 same length. as the power piston. The pumppiston 13 is secured to the piston rod 12 of the pump and is surroundedby several packing rings which may be expanded to compensate for wear ofthe piston. A connection of the two piston rods is effected by means ofthe clutch collar-'15 which is secured to the hub of the piston 5 bymeans of the wedge or key 16.

Two pipes are in eommunicatlon with the cylinder of the pump, one ateach side thereof. Onejof these pipes as indicated at 17 serves fordrawing the water by suction into the cylinder and a flanged opening 18in this pipe is therefore connected by means of another pipe (not shown)with the water supply. A plurality of regulating valves 22 are locatedin this suction branch of the pump and check valves 21 serve forpreventing the water from flowing from the pump indirection toward saidvalves 22 The compression side of the pump as indicated at 19 isequippedsimilarly and comregulating valves 23 and check valves 22'.

From the above it will be seen that during each stroke of the pump asuction is exerted in the pipe 17 and the water is con- I veyed by meansof the pump toward the 5 compression side 19 from wher it is disprises adischarge opening 20 located about mid-way in the discharge side andseveralcharged. Safety valves 24 may be located on top and on bottom ofthe pump cylinder and may be adjusted so as to relieve auto- I maticallyany excessive pressure in the pump. The relation between'the diameter ofthe power piston 5 and the pump piston 13 depends upon the volume ofwater to be conveyed by the pump.

Means are provided for'regulating automatically the inflow of watertothe well in accordancewith the height of the waves. For this purposeanother cylindrical well 24 is sunk from the level of the shore to thetunnel 4 which connects the'body of water 2 with the Well 1. 0nd well 24is considerably'smaller than that of the power well 1 and may be onlyone third of the same. The piston 25 is movv able in this auxiliary welland controls in its f movement the position of a gate 26'adapted 5 toshut off or open the tunnel leading tothe 1 well 1. The gate is slidablyheld in guides' 27 which extend vertically down to the tunnel and thepiston rod 28 of the piston 25 is connected with the rod 29 mounted onthe gate by means of links 30 and 31 and a beam 32. This beam ispivotally mounted on the standard 34 as indicated at 33. When the forceof the waves becomes excessive the piston 25 is forced upwardly andlowers thereby the gate 26 so that the access of the waves to the powerwell 1 is partially restricted.

The operation of the device is as follows: Incoming waves continue theirmovement through the submarine tunnel 4: and impelling against thepiston 5 in the Well. 1 they raise said piston whereby also the pumppiston 13 is forced upwardly.- The movement of the pump piston willproduce a partial vacuum in the chamber of the pump below said pistonand water is drawn in by suction through pipe 17 and check valve 21 intosaid chamber. The movement of the piston in upward direction within thecylinder of the pump forces the Water in the chamber above the pistontoward the compression side of the pump and thence throughythe pipe 20into some conduit (not shown) from where the water is led to thelocality where it is to be utilized. The receding wave will have theeffect that thepiston 5 in the well 1 simultaneously follows thereceding water level and the power pis ton, therefore, is loweredtogether with the pump piston '13. A vacuum is p'rodued in x the chamberabove the pump piston 1 v and the water is drawn in by suction throughthe I it pipe 18 into this chamber. The downward movement of thepistonforces the water in I 12.

the pump cylinder in the chamber below the piston toward the compressionside from -where it is discharged into a conduit.

I claim: 1. A wave motor compri'singa Well ex-' The diameter of thissec- I cavated in proximity to the shore of a body of water, a pistonmovable-in said well, a pump, means connecting said piston with thepump, a tunnel connecting the lower end of the well with the body ofwater and means controlled by the water passing through said tunnel forregulating the amonnt of water entering the well.

2. A wave motor comprising in combination with a well excavated inproximity to the shore of a body of water, a piston slidably movable insaid well, a machine operative-ly connected with said piston, a tunnelconnecting the lower end of said well with the body of water and meanscontrolled by the water flowing through said tunnel for regulatingautomatically the amount of water entering vell.

3.,A wave motor comprising in combination with a. well excavated inproximity to the shore of a body of Water, a piston slidably movable insaid well, a machine driven by said piston, a tunnel connecting thelower end of said well with the body of water, a gate guided in saidtunnel and means controlled by the water flowing through the tunnel forraising and lowering said gate to il'fgulate the amount ofwaterientering the we a i 4. A wave motor comprising in combination witha well excavated in proximity to the shore of a body of water, a pistonslidably movable within said well, a machine driveirby the movement ofsaid piston, a

tunnel connecting the lower end of the well with said body of water, asecond well communicating with said tunnel, a piston movable in saidsecond well, said second well be-' ing. excavated closer to the body ofwater than the first named well, a gate movable through said tunnel andmeans connecting said second piston with said gate 'for displacing thelatter vertically with respect to the tunnel.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LUIS MAYOLINO. Witnesses:

H. M. W onoorrr, RAoUL WASHINGTON.

